BYU takes on No. 24 Texas Saturday

PROVO, Utah—After finding success in Connecticut, BYU football travels to Texas for a meeting with the No. 24 Longhorns Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the game, with kickoff slated for 6:35 p.m. Fans can tune in for live coverage on ESPN Radio and the Cougar IMG Sports Network with Greg Wrubell, which can be found on Sirius XM 143, 1160 AM, 102.7 FM and BYUcougars.com. IMG's radio coverage will begin at 5:30 p.m. CDT.

BYUtv will provide pregame and postgame coverage, with Countdown to Kickoff starting at 5:30 p.m. CDT. Postgame coverage runs for half an hour after the game.

Bronco Mendenhall began his 10th season as head coach of the Cougars with the season opener at UConn. Mendenhall has an 83-34 record entering his 10th year. BYU ranks 12th in total wins during his tenure. (Texas has 89 wins to rank sixth.) With the win against UConn, BYU improves to 7-3 in season openers, including 3-2 on the road, in the Mendenhall era. Mendenhall is 6-3 in the second game of the season.

Junior quarterback Taysom Hill scored a career-high five touchdowns against UConn (three passing and two rushing). He finished the game 28-36 with 308 passing yards, his third career game with 300 or more passing yards. He also set a personal best with a 177.1 pass-efficiency rating. The junior led the team with 97 rushing yards and two scores, earning College Football Performance Awards Quarterback of the Week Honorable Mention and FBS Independent Offensive Player of the Week.

Sophomore cornerback Michael Davis recorded a career-high eight tackles and one pass breakup against UConn.

Senior linebacker Zac Stout set a new career high (and tied for a team high) with 10 tackles against UConn. His previous high was six against Nevada in 2010. He also added one sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.

Junior linebacker Jherremya Leuta-Douyere recorded a personal best with five tackles while also added a forced fumble against UConn. He forced the fumble on UConn’s first play from scrimmage to help set up a BYU touchdown.

Linebacker Bronson Kaufusi was named FBS Defensive Player of the Week after registering four tackles against UConn, including two sacks, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery. It was his first game as a linebacker after switching from the defensive end position.

Quotes

Coach Mendenhall

Challenge of facing Texas after the blowout last year:

“That will be the story all week of what happened last year, but I don’t think from a coach's perspective that will affect the outcome of the game at all. Certainly, the media and the fans will talk about it, but we have to get prepared and ready to play a football game. I’m looking forward to it. We like the opportunity we have and based on what we saw from the players today, it’s going to be a good week.”

Preparing for the backup QB:

“I thought Ash was a really good player. It is the University of Texas and the thought that they may not have a really good backup isn’t very smart. We’ve seen some of his film from the spring game and some from the bowl game and he’s really fast, athletic and big. The game plan might change a hair for them but it’s week two, so there are lots of changes.”

Impact of Texas losing starting center:

“Probably a bigger impact than the quarterback, you have the QB-center exchange and making calls at the line and handling all that.”

Amount of penalties vs. UConn:

“There was tons of aggression out there and I love that. I would rather have that and try to bring it back a little than the penalties being because of lack of effort. We highlighted the affect of penalties and how they take us the opposite way we want to be going.”

Travel schedule:

“I would like to arrive early again, but it’s difficult with school starting. I probably would with a bye; we obviously did it with our opener. It’s really difficult once you’re in the middle of your season. “

Secondary depth:

“Jordan Preator and Michael Davis both played really, really well, and so I’m so confident in our depth and the competition it provides. Now we get Jordan Johnson and Robertson Daniel back, that is day by day and it will be the entire season, we add two more corners to add to our already strong depth.”

Taysom’s confidence after UConn:

“The game looked like it slowed down for him and I was really impressed. To me it looked like he picked up right where he finished from a year ago.”

Making a national statement vs. Texas:

“When we went independent the idea was to play the best teams, on the biggest stages in front of the most people and this is a great chance to do that. So when you play well and win those games it helps your program.”

On the offensive line:

“I liked the way they played, and I’m sure the storylines have been the number of penalties, but they protected Taysom. There were no false starts, so they played in a lot of ways cleaner and they were just nasty and that’s where all the penalties came from.”

“We played way too many plays, and I think the coaches recognized that as well, so it will be nice having Kesni and Marques back this week.”

Experience of teammates playing at Texas in 2011:

“They’re a little bitter. They felt like they should have won the game. Obviously, it’s a cool place to play and a lot of excitement will be there.”

Having respect of Texas:

“I think we have their respect. If we don’t, I don’t know why we wouldn’t. I feel like it’s going to be a different game with a different team this year. Last season they came in a little bit cocky and thinking it was going to be an easy game, and it won’t be like that this year.”

Playing Texas on a national stage:

“Obviously the Longhorns are a team nationally known. If we can pull off the win I think it will definitely help us earn some national respect. It would mean a lot to beat them. It’s something we’ve worked hard for and this is a game we really need to win.”

On suspended players working their way back:

“It was hard for them last week not being there, and they’ve been working hard trying to get back. From what I saw today, it seems like their work has paid off.”

“It was fun seeing the stands right in the corner of BYU fans, it was exciting. It was fun going out there, and Taysom had a heck of a game.”

What he learned in the first game:

“Seeing all the players in a game setting, it just raised our confidence and helped me to know that we’re going to have a chance to win every game we play.”

Playing football in Texas:

“Oh, Texas football is like no other. We always have the argument, Cali or Texas, and being from Texas I have to say Texas. It’s fun, it’s intense and people demand a lot from you. I know UT fans are circling this game the way they got beat last year.”

Playing against his hometown team:

“When I was in high school I talked to Texas a few times but never got a scholarship, so I always want to play against them. Saturday night is a night to come out and show off and have our team win.”